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From our fabulous News Hawks!

Have you seen a TG-related news story online or in your local paper? Send it in to TGF and become a News Hawk! Don't assume we know everything that's out there, because you are our eyes and ears. To file a story, send it in to Cindy.



A Run in Their Stockings

Contributed by Andee W
via Washington Post
October 28, 1998

This ain't a marathon, honey. Running some two city blocks in spike heels is a whole different technique. Last night, close to 100 boys in skirts and pumps raced near Dupont Circle in the 12th annual Drag Race, sponsored by JR's Bar & Grill. We caught up with entrant James Millner, by day the communications director for the Whitman-Walker Clinic. He was in a cab, wig in hand, on the way to the makeup artist.

"It definitely helps to stretch before you run," Millner offered. "And you have to worry about tripping on the dresses of people in front of you. And if the queen in front of you does a face plant, you have to do some hurdles." He has learned to evade lost purses, dropped dresses and the occasional ejected breast. "The thing that I found the easiest is to run on the balls of your feet, and it hurts like hell," said Millner, thinking of his size 11 three- inch red spikes, "but no pain, no gain."

The Post's Robin Givhan reports a Monica Lewinsky look-alike, wearing the signature beret and toting a Bill Clinton doll, was escorted by a faux Linda Tripp on the sidelines.

TG Themed Book Wins Major Prize

Contributed by Rachel Sue Smith
via Philadelphia Inquirer
October 28, 1998

LONDON -- Ian McEwan yesterday won the Booker Prize, Britain's top literary award, for the novel Amsterdam. "I feel as if I am in a dream," McEwan told the literary glitterati at a dinner beneath the vaulted ceilings of London's Guildhall.

"Contentment is gradually taking over from shock," he told reporters after his win gave him instant celebrity status as an author and guaranteed a place for Amsterdam, which is not yet available in the United States, on British best-seller lists.

McEwan, 50, said the book's flawed villain, a transvestite foreign secretary, was in no way based on the chief Booker Prize judge, former Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd.

And he was quick to offer sympathy to fellow author Beryl Bainbridge, who has now failed in five attempts to land one of the world's most famous literary prizes.

He said of his slim, 178-page work: "Please do not be deceived by its length. . . . I don't think any other book I have written has given me such great pleasure."

McEwan said he was relieved that Amsterdam had been published well before Hurd was announced as the chief Booker judge.

"My foreign secretary is a very long way from Douglas Hurd. He appears before you in male clothes," he told reporters.

Newsgroups Matter Most to the Marginalized

Contributed by Jamie Faye Fenton
via Science News
October 17, 1998

Two psychologists at New York University recently monitored participation in 12 Internet newsgroups over a 3-week period. They selected four groups that focus on mainstream interests (such as politics), four that concern "culturally undesirable but conspicuous conditions" (such as obesity), and four that focus on culturally "marginalized but concealable" behavior (homosexuality, illicit drug use, sexual bondage and sexual spanking). Judges who rated the messages posted found that online communities mattered the most to participants in the "marginalized but concealable" groups. Members of these groups posted far more frequently, often after receiving positive feedback, than did members of the other groups. "This is the sort of work that needs to be done, examining different types of Internet users and different effects of computer use," says a psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University. Many participants of the marginalized groups said that participation in the newsgroup had enabled them to reveal their secrets to friends or family members.

TG Christian Retreat Planned

Contributed by Diane Zahn
October 20, 1998

An informal retreat for transgendered Christians will be held on January 24, 1999 from noon until 7 PM at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Woburn, Massachusetts. This retreat is being coordinated by Ms. Diane Zahn and Ms. Jennifer Jones of the Tiffany Club of New England, a Boston area support group for the transgender community. Meeting space at the hotel for approximately 20 persons is being made available courtesy of the Tiffany Club, which is holding it's annual First Event conference from January 21 until noon January 24 at the Crowne Plaza.

The coordinators have also planned to present a seminar as part of the First Event Saturday program entitled "Transgendered and Christian - Hearing the Good News", drawing upon their own Christian faith experiences. We cordially invite all persons, both Christian and non-Christian, with an interest in this perspective to attend the Saturday seminar, as part of the conference program. We want this session to be an uplifting experience, helping people to actively enrich their lives through faith. Our seminar is intended to offer resources for support and an opportunity for testimony, sharing, and discussion.

For the Sunday session, we welcome all persons interested in a spending a time of sharing, reflection, and fellowship focused on expanding and renewing their Christian faith. We have currently reserved meeting space for approximately 20 persons. We would like to and could potentially accommodate more, and make plans for a simple mid day meal via individual donations, if we have an advance headcount and can provide the hotel sufficient notice. An advance headcount of attendees will also help justify the added meeting room expense for Tiffany Club, which is expanding it's Sunday program to help us. If you would like to confirm attendance at the retreat or would like additional information , you can contact us at

Diane A. Zahn

Surface Mail:

D. A. Zahn
P.O. Box 2176
Monroe, MI 48161

e-mail: damz@sprynet

Jennifer Jones

e-mail: jennyj@concentric.net

For general information about the First Event conference, schedule, registration fees, hotel accomodations, or other local information, you may contact the Tiffany Club of New England at

Tiffany Club of New England
P.O. Box 71
Waltham, MA 02454-0071

Telephone: 781 891 9325 (answered live Tuesdays 7-10 PM)
e-mail: firstevent99@tcne.org
or consult the TCNE web site at www.tcne.org.

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